MIAMI – A Florida Highway Patrol trooper's patrol car was found covered in feces Sunday, and police are investigating whether the incident was connected to a recent controversy.
Florida Highway Patrol union chief William Smith said Trooper Joe Sanchez, who held a seat on the Miami City Commission for a decade, found human feces spread on his patrol car at his home.
Smith said it was in "the liquid form, like it might have come out of one of the Port-O-Potties you see around at construction sites."
Smith said it is unclear who vandalized the police cruiser. The recent controversy over traffic stop involving an FHP trooper and a Miami police officer accused of driving 120 mph on Florida's Turnpike has some questioning whether the vandalism was connected.
"Some people go 'Oh, it's got to be the city of Miami.' No, it doesn't. It could have been a disgruntled neighbor for all we know. It could have been anybody," Smith said. "It could have been a cousin of a cousin who has a friend who is in law enforcement and he felt like he needed to show his displeasure with what happened last month."
During last month's incident, FHP Trooper Donna Watts pursued, stopped and pulled over Miami police Officer Fausto Lopez at gunpoint in a patrol car after she said he weaved in and out of traffic on the Turnpike at 120 mph. At the time, he was on his way to an off-duty job.
No one affiliated with FHP has accused anyone involved with the Miami Police Department of involvement in the vandalism. While it may have been an act of retaliation, FHP representatives said they do not believe it came from a Miami police officer.
Sanchez took several pictures of the cruiser at his home. Click here to view the photos. (Warning: Graphic).